Signing from a Hearing Perspective

As someone who speaks German and knows how to pronounce Welsh, I get irritated by people saying that German is an ugly guttural language, and Welsh must be completely unpronounceable because it’s got all those Ws in it. Then there’s the old chestnuts about how Italian opera is arguing set to music, and French is the language of love, and having a Birmingham accent means you’re a bit thick. So I can understand the irritation Deaf people experience when hearing people go on about how sign language looks pretty. (It’s a bit like the character in A Fish Called Wanda who gets all excited when John Cleese’s character speaks Russian.) But at least they’re not saying it looks ugly!

I went to a Pagan event recently where there was a signer, and the signer got a standing ovation. I think this was partly because he was there for the whole day, and interpreting words that were difficult to translate into BSL. So, clearly the Pagan organisation should have got the speakers to send transcripts of their talks and involved the Deaf Pagans earlier in order to make sure that there weren’t problems of vocabulary. But I think it was the first time a signer had attended the event (though that in itself is a cause for concern if Deaf Pagans had been attending it for longer), so I guess they were still on the learning slopes.

Also, some of the audience (including myself) commented on how the signing augmented the talk, as we could work out what some of the signs meant, and they seemed quite symbolic (for example, the sign for ‘whole’ in BSL). And yes, we also said that it looked elegant and graceful. And I think people were impressed by the skill of instantaneously translating from one language to another – the guy would probably have got a standing ovation if he had been translating instantaneously from English into French, say. Also, given that many English-speakers have a mental block about learning another language, they are automatically impressed by someone who speaks or signs another language. And the English associate gesture with those expressive French types across the water, so we automatically think that gesturing a lot means your emotions are being expressed more freely (even though intellectually we know it’s just normal speech).

I also think that Pagans might be more interested in gesture than most people, since many of us are keen practitioners of ritual, which is all about using other forms of communication and modes of consciousness. I was very interested to read (in Salman Rushdie’s Haroun and the Sea of Stories) about the ancient Indian language of mudra, which is a gestural language in yoga – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudra . If you think about it, the letters of various alphabets (the runic Futhark, the Greek alphabet, and the Hebrew alphabet for example) have symbolic and ritual values, and there was a version of Ogham that was finger-spelt. So why not use the potential of ASL or BSL as a magical and symbolic language?

Another source of fascination in listening to, reading, or watching a language one doesn’t understand is that because your brain is pre-disposed to make sense of language and gesture, it looks or sounds as if one could almost understand it, if only someone would adjust one’s brain. I enjoy watching signers, but there’s also the frustration of not understanding. I wish everyone was taught sign language at school (as well as being able to communicate with Deaf people, it would also be useful in situations where there’s a lot of ambient noise). Also the human brain is programmed to focus the eye on movement occurring in peripheral vision (because humans are predators) – and the signers always stand on the edge of the stage, in peripheral vision – so we all end up watching them. I went to see a play in the theatre which was accompanied by signing, and again, found that it augmented the performance.

Perhaps those who know sign language should feel sorry for people who don’t – our gestures are mere hand-waving, a failure to communicate – whereas signers have a whole vocabulary at their fingertips.

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Editor’s Note: Many thanks to Allison Kaftan, whose well-written and thought-provoking post over at DeafDC.com “Silent Hands Sculpt Epitome of Beauty…Not” ( http://www.deafdc.com/blog/?p=814 ) helped to initiate an interesting email exchange which led to the writing of Yvonne’s article.

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Yvonne Aburrow has been a Pagan and polytheist since 1985, a Wiccan since 1991, and also dropped in on Druidry for a while. She has just started an MA in Contemporary Religions and Spiritualities at Bath Spa University. She has written four books : The Enchanted Forest: the magical lore of trees; Auguries and Omens: the magical lore of birds; The Sacred Grove: the mysteries of the forest; and The magical lore of animals. She also writes poetry. She has a strong interest in ethnography, mythology, symbolism, languages, science fiction, history and archaeology. She lives in Bristol, and is married to Nick Hanks, an archaeologist. They have 2 cats.

7 Responses

*smiles* I find your comment about gesturing more equating to expressing your emotions more freely interesting. It’s not the gestures itself that convey emotion – it’s the facial expressions. When I took Psychology last year, I read that 90% of our cues in conversations are non-verbal – for hearing people, not for deaf people. Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

I just don’t think hearing people actually pay attention to that, and when someone signs, it *makes* them pay attention. Does that make sense at all?

The Pagan aspect is very interesting! Too bad there’s no coven around here that I know of, or else I would go to a meeting and watch. 🙂

As a hearing person, who decided to learn sign for no other reason than I always seemed to be running into Deaf people, I must say that sign is SO helpful even when communicating with my wife and kids (all hearing and also know some ASL).

I’m a hearing person who is just beginning to get involved in the Deaf Community, and began studying ASL this past fall. I admit that when I first began, my reason for wanting to take a sign language class was because I thought it was a “pretty language.” I’ve always had a knack for languages – besides English, I also speak French and Italian, and can read and write in Latin.

But it did not take long for my Deaf instructor to knock some of that “awe” out of my head and force me to realize that ASL is a rich and complex language with its own grammar and syntax, as well as its own history and idiosyncracies.

Shhh…don’t tell him, but I still think it looks pretty – especially when I watch him tell us ASL stories, which he is a master at! I almost feel like he’s creating a movie with his hands.

It is interesting to see the differences between those hearing folks who were exposed to sign language and those who weren’t. For me, I was always exposed to sign in some form or other, in elementry school and in the community itself where I lived-California School for the Deaf (Riverside) was known to me from an infant. For me, it was a given HOH and Deaf community members were a part of my growing up. Perhaps in some ways, having grown used to a constant presence I just took it for granted. Sign language has always been beautiful to me, being HOH and Hearing both, what sign language I learned I didn’t retain because I didn’t use it very often. But I always enjoyed learning and re-learning watching the conversations and expressions, and on those rare events where I got to participate, the patience and humor as well. It is a puzzelment sign has not been incoporated too much to accomodate paganism, but perhaps too the same biases against non traditional spirituality carries over. I can’t help thinking about Yeat’s Easter Poem and the phrase, “A Terrible Beauty is Born.”

Where I’m from (the south), gestures are a part of everyday talk. I’ve been told that if I sat on my hands, I couldn’t talk. With that said, I do agree, that facial expressions do mean more than hand gestures (although there are a few gestures that are univerally obscene.. LOL), and I always try to see the clues in a person’s face. I can read lips pretty well, and can usually figure out what someone is saying in a crowd, even if I can’t hear them. I also know the frustration of trying to communicate with an elderly person who has lost their hearing, and refuses to do anything about it. I haven’t met that many deaf people, I believe Osh is the only one I have ever spoken to. Maybe I should learn ASL in case I ever lose my hearing, as it runs in my family. Of course, then no one else would be able to do it, so why bother? I’ll just have everyone yell at me, like we did my great Aunt.

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Ocean is the creator & manager of this blog. Born deaf into an all-hearing family, she was raised oral and attended hearing schools. Ocean began learning sign language at the ripe old age of 16, and after meeting a Deaf man began her own journey through Deafhood. She graduated from Gallaudet College (now University), and has held positions both within & outside of the field of Deaf Services.

Ocean has been a practicing Pagan for nearly 40 years, and is an ordained High Priestess of the Wiccan tradition. She considers herself "an eclectic witch," with a primary focus on Celtic Spirituality, but an interest in many different areas. A skilled tarot reader, she once donated her services to help raise funds for a Domestic Violence agency. She has also done workshops on aromatherapy, herbalism, & Paganism for the Deaf Community.

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